


Just a little cold

by Wild_wood_witch



Series: The beginning of the end [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Cold Weather, Common Cold, Cute Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, M/M, Meet-Cute, Merlin is a Little Shit, Merlin's Neckerchief (Merlin), Merthur - Freeform, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Protective Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Sickfic, Young Merlin (Merlin), not really - Freeform, young arthur pendragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26691616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wild_wood_witch/pseuds/Wild_wood_witch
Summary: “How..how can I repay you?”Arthur smiled, “Maybe one day you can return this,” he tugged at the material on Merlin’s neck, “to me.”As he walked away Merlin looked down at the scrap of red cloak, “I promise,” he whispered watching the Prince leave. “I’ll see you again one day.===============================================King Uther is holding Prince Arthur's first tour of the kingdom so that the young prince may get to know his country better. The far reaches of the country do not know much about their Prince and it is with batterd breath they wait for their sovereign. Merlin, Just a lad, can't help but feel excited. But when Prince Arthur lays his eyes on Merlin will he live up to Merlin expectations or will he be just another spoiled Prince.-----------------------Part 1 of the Beginning of the End series-- a collection of related and unrelated short stories and one-shots
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The beginning of the end [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942330
Comments: 11
Kudos: 142





	Just a little cold

**Author's Note:**

> So...I'm ten years rusty on writing and a little late to the MErthur party. I don't know if anyone will read this but please forgive me for any mistakes as they are my own.

“They are coming! They are coming!” 

Merlin gave a grunt as he jumped off the branch and landed on his knees. Not stopping to see his he had injured himself, he pushed up off the ground and ran. His gangly limbs flying to and fro as he jumped over hay bales and skidded around stray cows. He grabbed the wooden post that marked his village’s gates and used his momentum to swing into town. He kept running until he reached the center of town where everyone and their brother was gathered. 

Merlin bent over panting. The crowd began talking all at once to the young boy. The bodies pushed into his space as Merlin panted and hoped them crowding him wouldn’t steal the air away. He put his hand up and they stilled. Merlin drew a deep breath and stood up and found his mother in the crowd looking like she wanted to pull him to her and whisk him away that is until she pulled a frown at him and he followed her gaze down and saw he had two holes in his pants legs right on his kneecaps. Whoops, so he did get hurt jumping from that branch. 

“Well, boy,” Albert, a stuffy big man who self-proclaimed himself village leader. No one liked the man really. He was too loud, too opinionated, and saw himself above the others in the village. 

“They’re entering the forest now,” Merlin told the others. It was right as he said it that they heard the horns. Merlin turned his head to see a front of men coming out of the forest. From what Merlin could see that looked just like the knights from his mother’s stories. Their armor glinted in the fall sun, their skin was toned and their hair well kept. On their side were swords in leather sheaths and they held aloft a pole in witch a yellow dragon flew on a plain of red. 

The king was here. 

The villagers snapped to action. They lined the road in two straight lines. They had gotten word the King Uther had chosen their village to be part of his tour. The tour was meant to be for Prince Arthur to see his land. The young prince had just turned eight. Merlin was excited to see the prince. He craned his neck out trying to see the prince. No one had seen the prince in person in his village. None had a reason to travel to court so they only had a vague description of the prince. 

Hunith pulled Merlin back as the first knights began to walk down the road. She made a weary sigh not wanting her only son to be run over by these men. She knew he was excited but part of her was worried that somehow the king would discover her son’s secret. 

“Sorry mam,” Merlin smiled sheepishly. That’s when he saw him. 

The young prince was riding a pure white horse. He was dressed in pristine armor and a deep red cloak clasped around his neck. His hair was like sunlight and on top of his head, he wore a golden crown. To Merlin, he wasn’t handsome and he looked like any other boy.. It wasn’t his beauty, his rich fabric, or the jewels he wore that had Merlin unable to look away. No, it was a simple fact that the prince was a golden yellow leaf in his hand and was smiling a huge smile as if someone had just granted all his wishes. It was an honest and pure smile. Merlin for some reason wanted the prince to look upon him and smile that smile. Merlin shivered as a cold gust of Autumn in swept down the road. The Prince was two horse lengths away. 

His mother noticed her son’s body shake with the wind. She tisked and noted Merlin did not have his scarf on. The young boy always go a nasty cold in the autumn and it left his body in bad shape for months after. “Merlin where is your scarf?”

Merlin had to take his eyes off the prince and looked at him, mother. He rubbed the back on his head, “It must have fallen off in the woods.”

“You’ll catch a cold. I don’t have to remind you how dangerous it is when you catch a cold do I?”

Merlin shook his head. No, she did not. “I don’t want to go back to the house and find one. I’ll miss everything.”

“I’m sure the king will understand, Merlin.” his mother said softly knowing how excited merlin had been since hearing the king would be coming through the village. 

“But-” It was then Merlin let out a hoarse cough that seemed to come deep from his lungs.

“Here,” a soft voice said from Merlin’s left. It was then noticed everyone was looking at him. No, he thought as he followed their gaze and found the prince in front of him. They were looking at the prince who had a piece of red cloth in his hand. 

========================================================================

Prince Arthur had been enjoying the tour so far. He loved seeing how the land stretched on for miles and miles and the sky stretched farther still. He took interest in the people he passed and watched closely as his father interacted with them. Not having anyone else his age around Arthur found him talking to his knights who rode beside him. They started out as amusing the prince Arthur knew but their chats became more genie as they say he had a head for swordplay even at a young age. 

It was through the last village that Arthur found himself distracted by a leaf that had blown into his hair when they passed through the woods. Arthur had fished it out of his hair and studied it. It was a deep yellow and had specks of brown in it. Arthur looked up at the foliage above him and breathed deep. He loved the loamy and earthy smell of autumn. In fact, the season was Arthur’s favorite. He loved the crisp air, the sound of leaves underfoot, the deep hues of the leaves, and the smell of woodsmoke in the air. He squinted his eyes when he saw something fluttering in a tree nearby. He could not tell what it was besides that it was a dark blue in color. 

He was still paying attention to his leaf when they entered the town. 

Arthur would have kept to his own head through the whole village but quite and odd sound had him lookup. In front of him was a young boy no more than a year or two younger him. He was dressed in what to Arthur seemed to be coarse fabric and his hair was a messy and wild mouse brown. 

“Merlin where is your scarf,” the woman on his side spoke. 

Merlin. It was an odd name to be sure but Arthur knew somehow it fit the other boy the way Arthur’s crown fit his head. He saw the boy’s large hears flush as he turned more towards his mother. 

“It must have fallen off in the woods.”

Ah so that explains what the blue mystery was the prince realized. 

“You’ll catch a cold. I don’t have to remind you how dangerous that is do I?” the women berated who Arthur assumed was her son. 

It was indeed cold out. Arthur had had to stop before they had entered the woods to put on his own cloak. The wind was fierce and unrelenting. It was no longer summer-fall truly had her hands upon the earth. His mother was right. The young boy would catch a cold without a scarf. I don’t even know if he would survive a cold seeing how skinny he is the prince thought and something settled in his stomach as the young boy hunched over and let out a terrible cough. 

Before Arthur could even stop to think things through he swung his leg off his steed and dropped to the ground. He father raised an eyebrow as his son but kept going. Uther would talk to the village leader before the left so he was not to concern as to why his son had gotten down. 

Arthur took his cloak in his hands and gave a tug and ripped the bottom half of his cloak off. He couldn’t let this fool get sick. He couldn’t explain it but suddenly this boy became very important tot he prince. 

He held out his hand, “Here.”

Merlin turned to him his eyes wide.

========================================================================

“Um.”

Merlin looked at the prince wondering why he was in front of him and looked down at what the prince held. It looked to Merlin like a scrap of red cloth. He looked back up at Arthur and found himself captivated by his eyes. They were gold..gold just like how he figured magic would be if it was a color.   
“Take it,” Arthur shook the fabric. “You don’t have a scarf and it is cold. Take it.”

Merlin saw the tear in Arthur’s cloak, “Your majesty your cloak. I can’t...I’m fine..”

It was then he coughed again and Arthur winced. “You really are dumb aren’t you. Take it. It‘s long enough for your neck. That cough sounds horrible. I don’t need one of my subjects dying from something that can be helped.”

Merlin blushed and opened his mouth but the prince humphed and reached out to spin Merlin around. Merlin was shocked when Arthur draped the fabric around his neck and felt his fingers brush his skin as he tied a knot. Merlin looked down to see a handkerchief fasted around his neck. 

Arthur faced him forward and gave a little huff of a laugh, “well...maybe I was wrong about the length but it should still work.”

The prince smiled at Merlin and Merlin smiled back. 

“Arthur,” Uther called to the boy his gaze stern. 

“I have to go. Keep that on ok?”

As he turned to go Merlin reached out and grabbed Arthur’s hand. The two boys looked down at their clasped hands. Both of them feeling a flutter in their stomach. Merlin let go as if he was on fire. Merlin’s face turned red and his ears even reder. “How..how can I repay you?”

Arthur smiled, “Maybe one day you can return this,” he tugged at the material on Merlin’s neck, “to me.”

As he walked away Merlin looked down at the scrap of red cloak, “I promise,” he whispered watching the Prince leave. “I’ll see you again one day. 

For now, he let the Prince’s cloak and his kind smile keep him warm.

**Author's Note:**

> While Kudos are nice I, as an author, thrive more or written criticism then seeing how many Kudos I got. So if you could drop a comment below I would appreciate it. I'll take constructive criticism as long as its nicely put. I also would love to hear what you guys would love to see (prompts are food for a writer)


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